I just read this and had to post it

[rniel]

http://www.infidelguy.com/members/AlonzoFyfe/short_story_conversation_at_the_gate.shtml

[catbert836]

1. That's amazing

Not a Christian, but it still makes a lot of sense.
"it's time to choose..."

[NMMNG]

2. Wow

That should be required reading for every know-it-all fundie wingnut.

[rniel]

3. Thanks

Post this anywhere else I'd get attacked for it. Post it here I'm glad you liked it. I think most of the people on here are are in the same wavelength as me.

I especially like the part of how he says people that mind their own business and wish no ill will upon you should not be harassed. i.e. gay people. How simple and true is that. Why don't people get it.

[trotsky]

4. Why don't people get it?

Because the bible is so unclear.

If the bible was what it purports to be, the word of God and his instructions for us, why not lay it out clearly and not subject to so many incredibly different interpretations? Did God not anticipate that homosexuals would one day be able to "come out of the closet" and try to marry? Why didn't he include a verse that specifically says, "Man may marry man and woman may marry woman if they enter into the covenant freely, for the basis of marriage is love."?

While the story you posted is admirable, it reveals the tragic flaw in most flavors of Christianity: how do you know, no matter how sure you are, that what you believe isn't distorted by Satan or even your own mistaken perceptions and biases?

In other words, what if this story were reversed, and a liberal Christian finds himself dead and confronted by an angel who claims that gays really are an "abonimation" to God and why did they escort women into clinics to kill their innocent babies, etc.?

I hope you don't view this post as an "attack," I'm just pointing out why things are the way they are.

[catbert836]

5. The point was a switcheroo.

Where a fundie ends up in the afterlife, and instead of being welcomed into heaven as he so arrogantly believes he will be, is given a choice to reject his evil ways or to keep being a hypocrite. I think that we all enjoyed that part, regardless of faith.
I'm not a Christian, but I believe what the liberal Cristian would say to your post is that the Bible was written by humans, not by god, and though it recieved some divine inspiration, God only gave them (if he did speak to them, which I'm not sure he did) a geberal outline, and the rest of it was up to them.
So if you were writing a book of laws and customs for a whole nation and you (thought) you had recieved guidance from God to write it, but God can't tell you exactly what to write, you would probably abuse your power a little, and put some of what you thought in it. For example, the writers of Deuteronomy probably were strongly homophobic, which wasn't that uncommon around then, just as a lot of folks were misogynistic (It's the woman's fault we don't live in Paradise, etc.), so they put their personal prejudices into their writing. The Bible, just like the Constitution, is a living document that needs constant reinterpretation, and much more reinterpretation than the Constitution, which was wriiten by one group of people over the couse of several months, while the Bible was written by many groups of people over the course of almost 4000 years.
I agree with you, though, that the "demon hovering over your shoulder" or Screwtape Letters jive is a huge flaw of Christianity.

[Name removed]

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[Maat]

6. Thanks for the post.

Thought-provoking piece.

I'm a Religious Scientist; so, technically, I don't believe in Heaven or Hell, except as states-of-mind we create for ourselves. I also believe that we continue in our individual uniqueness forever, in some fashion. Could it be that this was a state-of-mind he created? Interesting.